I’ve always loved having long nails; they’ve always grown strong and long for as long as I can remember. I actually gave up violin aged 9 after playing for just a year, because I was fed up of being told every week to cut my nails, and every week being told that the slither I had filed off wasn’t good enough and so I took up playing the flute instead. Even at that age, I knew my nails were more important to me than a violin. 😉
However, recently I’ve been going through a lot of stress and have noticed the toll it’s taking on them as they’ve been snapping quite low down, so for the first time in my life I’ve had to have them repaired with a few acrylic extensions. I took this opportunity to head to a new salon that I’d seen and been impressed with on Instagram because of the variety of nail colours and designs they showcased on there and these petrol-like, holographic nails are what I came out with, and I couldn’t be more pleased with them. Plus, I think Cobi, the nail technician there made the acrylic tips blend in perfectly with the shape of my natural nails, don’t you think? 😍
I also tried to get a video to show you how holographic they went under a
direct light, but my cat wanted in on the action, and she's cute so why
not. ;-)
eBay to me has always been the place that I turned to when I couldn’t find an item in stock, or had baulked at paying, or just couldn’t stretch to paying full price for something in a shop/online. Yep, it’s hit and miss as to what you find on there, but that’s the beauty of it as, whilst at times it may not have what you’re looking for, you can set up alerts for these searches… and when you get that email saying something you had been looking for has been listed, it is game on!!
Sometimes though, eBay can be daunting, with the sheer volume of items on there that it can be hard to find the products you want, especially when running with a theme, or trying to match them up to other items in general. So, eBay have come up with a pretty cool solution with their new Collections tool, a way of saving, and showing items that you think work well together.
This is perfect for your own organisational reasons or for sharing with friends and family; and I can totally imagine this working well for things like birthday and Christmas wish lists, as when people are asking what you’d like, you can just point them in the direction of your collections. Clever, huh?!
In preparation for the launch, eBay asked me to make some collections of my own and so I spent a good few hours scouring the site to see what treats took my fancy. You could say this was just a more elaborate form of my usual way to window shop, where I add everything I would like to own into any given ‘cart’, see the total cost, laugh (and cry) before closing the tab in defeat – as attempting to whittle down any shopping cart like that is near on impossible for this indecisive lady. ;-)
Here are just a few of my favourite collections from all of the collections I have been making (all clickable):
The collections format actually reminds me somewhat of Pinterest, and other similar sites in the way that you add items, and the way it appears overall, and I think it’s going to be a great addition to the site. I’m already making more collections to lust after, in the hope that I come into some money. Ha.
What do you think about the new addition? Have you seen or used the new collections tool? Could you make use of it? x
P.S: Apologies if you're using a mobile to view this post, if the images are a bit wonky - not entirely sure what has happened with that.
I've been looking at these kits for some time, wondering if they're actually as good as a salon gel manicure?! Has anybody used them? If so, what do you think?
I like the idea of quick 'curing' time, meaning I am not flapping my hands around and blowing my nails for hours (which lets face it, is tedious and looks weird), and actually think I'd be more likely to give some nail art a go because of this (I hate spending ages creating a masterpiece (ish) on my nails, only to then go and ruin it by knocking/smudging it etc)! On that note, does anybody know of any product that makes polish dry super quickly, that isn't Seche Vite, since I did not have a good experience with this stuff?!
Anyway, I noticed that today on QVC they have a Red Carpet Manicure set* as their TSV, which in this case means the set is this price (£74.97 plus £6.95 postage) and with the 3 easy payments (you pay £24.99 per month for 3 months, until the full amount is paid, postage and packaging cost is paid in first upfront payment) for one day only - until midnight tonight, actually.
If you've had your eye on one of these kits, this actually seems like a really good offer. I'm liking the look of both colour options too. Anybody going to go for it? x
*"Red Carpet Manicure gel nail set with LED lamp. This collection
contains everything you need to achieve a long-lasting, high-shine gel
manicure or pedicure that dries almost instantly, including an LED lamp,
top and base coats, three gel nail colours and much more. Get the
latest nail trend in the comfort of your own home thanks to this
innovative gel nail set. Enjoy a long-lasting finish
- just like a professional gel manicure, each layer is 'cured' to dry
under the LED lamp in as little as 30 seconds, so you can get on with
your day without worrying about smudging or chipping your colour. Care for your nails - your Red
Carpet Manicure set comes with everything you need to remove your
polish. The collection also includes cuticle oil and a protein-rich base
coat to help keep your nails in tip-top condition. Save on professional manicures - get the same look at home time and time again without having to pay salon prices. Colours to suit all - choose
from either on-trend brights or sophisticated autumnal shades. The
gorgeous glossy shine combined with the wide choice of colours will
never look out of style! Contains:
1 x professional LED lamp - features built-in 45 second self timer
function, cool light technology, long-lasting bulbs and an AC power cord
adapter
2 x Purify Pre and Post Application Cleanser (59ml)
1 x Prep Max Adhesion (9ml)
1 x Structure Base Coat Gel (9ml)
1 x Brilliance Seal and Shine Top Coat Gel (9ml)
1 x Revitalise Nourishing Cuticle Oil (9ml)
2 x Erase Gel Nail Polish Remover (59ml)
2 x removal kits - contains 20 pre-cut foil sheets and foam removal soak pads
3 x Red Carpet LED Gel Nail Polish (9ml)
1 x accessories kit – containing one cuticle and buffing stick, two
strips of adhesive buffing tabs (20 in total), emery board and 10
orangewood sticks
1 x instructional DVD
1 x UK instructions for LED light
1 x Brochure
1 x Ingredient list for cuticle oil
Colour options:
Summer
1 x Mimosas by the Pool - hot rich coral
1 x Socialite Status - bright fuchsia pink
1 x Sea Cloud Cruise - baby blue (only available at QVC)
Autumn
1 x Publicity Stunt - mulberry
1 x Bourgeois Babe - sheer berry red (only available at QVC)
1 x Sands of Time - creamy latte (only available at QVC)
Behind the brand
The at-home gel polish system was created by the same people who first
brought LED light technology to the professional salon manicure market.
Red Carpet Manicure is designed to give you fast-drying and long-lasting
results in the comfort of your own home."
You may remember the gel nails that I had done at Professional Beauty North a while back?! Well I thought I'd do a quick update post showing the polish after 3 and a half weeks of wear and what I thought about how they left my nails after.
As you can see, all brands stood up well in how well they lasted, none of them chipped, wore away or changed in appearance at all - and that is pretty damn impressive. Nothing I did made any difference to how they looked. In fact, they were all still so very pretty, that I did feel a bit bad when I removed them.
Saying that though, I was definitely ready to remove them as you can see, my nails have grown quite a lot and there was a huge gap between my cuticle and where the polish started - and normally, I'd have taken the polish off way before I did, but this was an experiment, and so they stayed put.
After removing them, the only nail that appears to have suffered any damage was my thumbnail, which had the Calgel on. It feels so dry and is hugely marked, even buffing didn't smooth it out - I'll spare you the photographs I took, it's not pretty at all!
I'd certainly recommend the NuBar Gelicure and Artistic Colour Gloss without hesitation, and would just say to make sure that the Calgel system isn't going to damage your nails before you have it done as other than the damaged nail, I was still very impressed. I can't honestly say if this damage was a one off as this is my one and only nail/experience of it, just approach with caution and make sure you know everything there is to know.
Do you have gel nail polish? If so, which one and do your nails ever get damaged with it? x
P.S - The Kooky Nail Wrap lasted 2 weeks, although there was tip-shrinkage quite soon into that but it wasn't awfully noticeable!
I've been looking into having both Minx (this is kind of like the original nail wrap, y ou can have different patterns/finishes with this) and Gel manicures (lasts around 2-3 weeks, depending on which brand youo go for, this one is 2 weeks) so this deal caught my eye instantly.
The usual cost for these treatments is £39 so it's roughly a 75% saving, which is great! I think I might have to buy 2 so I can have both done.
On Thursday evening I attended a beauty evening that I had been invited to, hosted by Wahanda at the Radisson Blu Hotel at Manchester Airport. I arrived later than I intended but was promptly given a nice glass of the fizzy stuff (that’s Champagne, not lemonade) and a little goody bag which took the stress of the train journey away rather quickly, and was then taken through to a large conference room with a buzz of activity going on in all directions.
The first thing going on that caught my eye was what I could only describe as a star wars mask at that point, but actually turned out to be a Fine LightSkin Rejuvenation system being demonstrated by SPA in the CITY who are based in Manchester city centre. It was a bit freaky looking at first glance, especially as the person wearing it wore small goggles under the mask/helmet type thing that made their eyes look completely black... very odd, don’t you think?
Apparently the Fine Light mask stimulates the dermis to energise the cells which then promotes the production of collagen and elastin which helps to plump the skin and reduce fine lines and wrinkles! I have no idea if this works – I got the opportunity to try it later on in the evening, but unfortunately I couldn’t for reasons I’ll explain below. However I do think it looks great and will definitely try to find out more about it soon.
Also from SPA in the CITY was a tank of Garra Ruffa fish... bliss, I love fish spas (as you may already know from previous posts) so this was great for me to see at the event. I didn’t put my feet in as well frankly I didn’t fancy getting my feet out in front of everybody, but I did put my hands in instead as I’ve never had it done on my hands before and let them have a good old nibble (well suck) on them instead!
These photo's of me were taken by the talented Lily from Beauty's Bad Habit!
If you haven’t been to a fish spa before I really do recommend it, there are plenty of them around these days... and if you’re a bit fish/sea phobic usually this is a great help if you can conquer it. I actually managed to snorkel with tropical fish in Egypt since conquering having my feet in with the fish in Malaysia last year!
Also demonstrating some of their treatments were The Beauty Lounge who are based at the Radisson Blu Hotel at Manchester Airport. This is actually where I had my first ever spray tan done a couple of months ago; you may remember me posting about it here!
They were spray tanning anybody who fancied it (shown above) – although only really on legs/arms and shoulders so that people could keep their modesty intact!
Jessica Manicure
They were also doing manicures with Jessica products, both normal and gel manicures too – I would have loved to have been able to have a gel manicure but there was always a queue and as I was trying to get around and find out about things, and take photographs, it just wasn’t possible for me to stand in the queue and wait.
Jessica Gel Manicure Application.
Jessica Gel Manicure Curing.
The manicures all looked amazing though, and I’d definitely recommend them for anybody who is thinking about it – especially the gel ones, which can last up to 3 weeks. The lady doing the gel manicures actually said that instead of having the polish soaked off when it starts to grow out that you could actually have it filled in to get another week or 2 out of it which sounds great to me.
Botox: Frowning.
The final treatments that I saw were being done by doctors from the Re-Enhance Clinic (based in Hale but with clinics in other places too), Botox and dermal filler demonstrations to be precise, and these were the ones I wanted to see the most as I had been toying with the idea of having at least some Botox in the very near future (on my frown line mostly, but maybe in other areas also) but had never managed to commit myself, I think possibly just through fear of something going wrong!
The first demonstration he did was on a girl who had Botox on her forehead, it actually seemed very straight forward, she said it didn’t hurt and I believed that as she didn’t even flinch when the needle went in. I’ve took a few photographs but unfortunately I was at the wrong angle for the most part, so sorry about that.
All done!
Before the demonstration of the dermal fillers I spoke to the event organisers from Wahanda about seeing the Botox demonstration being done and that I thought it had alleviated my fears of having it done, only to be asked ‘do you want to have it done?’ – I found my mouth saying yes whilst my head was mainly going ‘OHMYGOD OHMYGOD OHMYGOD’, and so it was arranged that I would be having Botox on that very night.
Even though I had seen it being done I was still very nervous, although this was definitely mixed with a big dose of excitement too. As I was having it done my nerves went away as I found that it really didn’t hurt that much (I’ve actually had tummy cramps whilst I had gastroenteritis that hurt more than the needle) and also that I hadn’t died on the table either *phew*. The weirdest feeling was after the Botox was in when the doctor (Martin Kinsella) gave a little squeeze to the frown line; I think to distribute the Botox through the area. It’s a feeling I can’t really describe either – it wasn’t painful, just a little bit sharp and unexpected.
I was told that the effects wouldn’t be apparent until maybe 2-3 days after treatment with the full effect showing up to 2 weeks later, and this has definitely been the case so far. I’m starting to notice a small change and it’s just about 2 days since it was done. I am photographing the progress at least once per day and will start posting about it, with photographs from either tomorrow, or Monday. This is also the reason that I didn't try out the mask, as mentioned alll the way up at the top of the post!
Before: Although this lady had dermal fillers approximately a year ago.
The dermal fillers demonstration was something else that I was very interested in, I’ve seen horror stories of things going wrong on TV and really wanted to see what it was like in reality to have it done. Unlike Botox, having fillers gives an instant effect which also allows the doctor to make sure everything is symmetrical and positioned as it should be. I took a bit of video of it being done (shown below, sorry they're sideways) and in it you’ll see that Martin is actually using his fingers to kind of sculpt the filler into position.
The finish of the filler was surprisingly natural, and I think this is due to Martin’s expertise in the field – as you can hear from his explanation, avoiding certain areas stops you getting the pillow effect that quite a few celebrities sport.
After.
The fillers (he used Juvederm) last up to a year once done, and whilst slightly more firm to begin with, do soften in time. I felt the skin after the treatment and to be honest, it wasn't really that hard at all. I’ve always said that I wouldn’t mind having ‘work’ done, although I’m not entirely sure I’d go fully under the knife so this was a great demonstration for me to see.
I completely recommend Dr Martin Kinsella though, he really seems to know his stuff (thankfully) and he was so friendly which made me feel completely at ease too. If you’re thinking about having something like this done then I would definitely check out his sites.
His clinics seem to be quite a family orientated business with both his mum and dad working with him - which I think is a rather nice thing, as I really think it would make it feel like a more personal experience! The other areas that his clinics are based are Abersoch, Derby, Hayfield, Wirral, Worsley and he even has one in Majorca too.
Finally, I couldn’t write this post without mentioning the gorgeous cakes at the event made by ‘Katja’s Kupcakes’ (www.katjaskupcakes.co.uk) – seriously bad for a diet, but SO worth it. I was allowed to bring 2 cupcakes home (so Mr Beauty Scoop could have one too, which was very kind of them) and they were delicious. Highly recommended.
The more fancy looking cakes can take up to 20 minutes to decorate for each small cupcake – that’s some patience needed, probably more than I’d have but fair play to them as they look every bit as good as they taste (and vice versa)!
It was a fantastic night, and a great opportunity to see some of the fabulous companies, spas and clinics that Wahanda work with and really get a feel for what they're about. I'll certainly be looking for the deals even more now I've seen it all first hand!
